The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-09-28

"You--you could not tell me where
she is now2n
The superb female smiled nightly.
mot very well, since have told you
that | don't even remember the name"
mo, of course not" stammered poor
Oliver
"Who was he after? Seemed to be
pretty badly cut up" he heard some one
laugh as he went out.
Stumbling little in his walk he
passed along the great, strange, noisy
street once more. Hurrying hundreds,
each unit of them all on his own in
terests, his own absorbing concerns, in
tent, brushed by him unheeding.
Rudderless, composites, he found him
self launched upon an unknown and
boundless sea. Where should he look
nowl Never in these five years of toll,
of patient striving for one idea, had this
thought occurred to him, that when he
did manage to follow her it might be too
late; that she might have gone beyond
the ken utterly of those who had known
hcr He walked about the streets
vaguely, aimlcssly, all that day and when
the downtown thoroughfares shone with
the white glare of electric lights he con-
tinued his footsore wanderings. He
stopped before show windows when the
crowd stopped. And once he followed
small detachment into flaring place
labeled "Muscum of Natural Curiosities, :"
where he looked, without comprehension,
at II fat woman, girl from Circassia with
woolly hair, and an assortment of wax
figures. On leaving this place he noticed
a sign Offering nights lodgings for
twenty-five and fifty cents, beside a
narrow, clean flight of stairs leading up
ward into large house. He considered
a moment and then went in. He paid
fifty cents He took his money out of
his pocket and put it under his pillow
lie would be very careful of it. He
would spend nothing on himself He
might find Hilary yet. But where's 2
1t was small room, its spaces man
aged and utilized in the spirit of com
pact snugness which characterizes the
cheaper metropolitan fiat; but it was a
very pretty room. Its grace and almost
elegance of arrangement made up for its
exiguity. And the pretty woman who
poured tea for her one visitor gave last
bright charm to the apartment which the
gentleman was not slow to appreciate.
He was rather florid person, to whose
good looks the touch of forty years had
given a certain appearance of added
prosperity and perhaps pompousness.
The appearance of prosperity was quite
justified. Mr.. Vannest McFarlane had
all the material things which man need
wish for. Perhaps he took them-his
unimpeachable position, his Knicker-
booker blood, his inherited and accumu-
lated wealth-rather as a tribute to his
personal excellence and responsibility
but, all the same, he was man of many
good impulses and of some generosity.
If he were very prudent in some respects
one could not but acknowledge that he
had the right to such prudence, situated
as he was. The Mrs Vannest McFarlane
of the future would enter upon a really
very desirable position.
eyes, | have great sympathy with
some of these fellows" observed Mr. Nc
Farlane, slipping his tea. 1T is pathetic
the struggle they go through when they
are launched into the maelstrom of city
life. Some swim; but many more sink.
Ycs-poor fellowsl I've seen a good
many cases of the kind"
The bright young widows face dark
ened with an alluring sympathy.
"Yes," she assented with a soft little
murmur."
'Some have come under my especial
notice"
"Yes2 l dare say you have given many
struggler helping hand, too" said
the young widow. She said it quietly,
net impulsively. If she had forced the
delicate taste would have taken umbrage.
This was precisely what Mr. Mcfarland
so greatly appreciated in the charming
| little woman in the black dress. He
made no allusion to himself on the score
OF her probable original status. He did
not know exactly what it was; but he
| imagined, without wishing to inquire
very far back, that it was something
rather simple, while respectable. He
| did not think he should at all have
/ cared for the acquaintance of the defunct
/ Mr.. Lawton, who had been frank
fresh, young dry-goods clerk, with great
/ limitations as to his intellectual outlook
and evidently greatly his young wife''
/ inferior. Mr.. McFarlane could not but
consider it as almost providential-anG
this quite impersonally-that the young
dry-gOods clerk, after insuring his life
nicely, should have left his wife to pur
sue her career unhampered by the restric
tions that husband without many re
sources must place upon a clever and
pretty woman. If Mr.. McFarlane was {
little slow in finally crystallizing hi
various feelings of appreciation, admi
ration, for this particular clever anC
pretty woman into definite offer of hi'
person and its accompanying advantages
it is to be remembered, and said before
that the advantages were really quit,
uncommon.
"A man does what he can in such {
case, ~ he said, in reply to her remark
But the remark had flattered him-haC
been delightfully."- agreeable.
And Mrs. Lawton was looking so yer,
charming-moIe so even than usual,
that were possibe-that evening. Their
was such soft color upon her cheek
such light in her eyes.
And what an air of grace and breed
ing she had! There was something il
personal distinction certainly. 1t wa
an excellent substitute for social distinc
tion, if one could not have that. AnC
what a quaint, mellow name Hilary was
~ have had one instance under m,
notice for some time" he pursued. eth
young fellow came from the rural dis
tricts about two years ago. He was hon
est, industrious, capital fellow, thougl